Effective Muscle Building Through Understanding Unique Body Types and Their Traits

I recently posted an article online on this topic and thought i can share it here with u guys.

To be able to effectively build up muscles and tone one’s body, it has been discovered that it is useful to first of all understand your unique body type before customizing a training program complemented with the right diet and nutrition to reap maximum impact. While genetics play a big role in what type of frame we are given, with the proper nutritional and exercise regime in place, any body types can acquire the strength, optimize athletic performance and keep body fat levels low. Below are 3 types of bodies, commonly known as the 3 somatotypes and their characteristics.

Mesomorph traits:
- Tend to have a wedge shaped body with very broad shoulders.
- Heavily muscled limbs, narrow hips and cubical shaped heads.
- Usually of medium overall structure and height
- Typically excels in sports or activities that require speed, strength and agility
- Respond well to both cardiovascular activity and resistance training, and experience gains in strength very effortlessly
- Tend to keep a lower body fat percentage, although they can gain or lose fat with much less struggle.
- Tolerate carbohydrates fairly well, and tend towards being testosterone and growth hormone dominant.

Endomorph traits:
- Wide hips and often short arms and legs
- Gains fat easily and also deconditions more quickly without a regular, consistent program
- Body fat is usually higher than the other 2 body types
- For women, fat tends to accumulate in the hips, legs and upper arms due to increased levels of estrogen
- Men who show signs of excess fat in these areas tend to be deficient in testosterone and growth hormone.
- Men tend to accumulate fat in the middle when not showing excess fats in the typical women’s areas.
- Both genders are insulin dominant with slow metabolic rates and have a very low carbohydrate tolerance.

Ectomorph traits:
- Has a difficult time gaining muscle as well as fat.
- Has high metabolism, which can range from being thin despite eating "normally" to not becoming overweight despite eating huge volumes of food on a daily basis.
- Angular or lanky body. Can be bony-skinny to lean to "proportionate", despite food intake that would suggest a higher body fat level.
- Not to be confused with people who are skinny because they hardly eat or spend large amounts of time running.